KENDALL Whyte, who lost her brother, Jayden, in November 2018 to suicide, told her family's story in an emotional presentation at AgConnectWA's annual general meeting recently.
Held at Flux in the city, Ms Whyte presented the Blue Tree Project, which had been created in honour of her brother to serve as a reminder to those suffering mental illness that "it's OK to not be OK".
Ms Whyte, who grew up with her sister and older brother in the small Wheatbelt town of Mukinbudin, 300 kilometres east of Perth, said the Blue Tree Project had been inspired by something shared at Mr Whyte's funeral, that he had painted a tree blue on his family farm on Valentine's Day in 2014 as a practical joke.
When his best friend, Simon Comerford, painted a tree blue in his honour and posted it on Facebook, the post went viral and sparked a movement that went around Australia and has even reached the United Kingdom.
Ms Whyte said the group wanted the blue trees to help break down the stigma around mental illness.
"Particularly in the agricultural, farming industry it can be quite an isolating lifestyle, so I think it's important for us to bring up this discussion on mental health and really focus on it," Ms Whyte said.
"Without our health we don't have anything."
The 80 people that attended the AGM also heard a panel discussion on 'Building Community Trust' between WAFarmers chief executive Trevor Whittington, Hub Marketing and Communications managing director Nicolle Jenkins and Grain Industry Association of WA chief executive Larissa Taylor.
The panel tackled contentious topics, such as how commentary on animal welfare is affected by wealth.
With about 65 per cent of Australia's agricultural products exported, the panel debated whether Australia's food abundance has helped lead a growing demand from society for ethical food production.
Ms Jenkins said it was a tough topic that related to moral relativism.
"In many respects, we have no right to judge another country that doesn't have the same access to fresh food, food security and breeding programs as we do," Ms Jenkins said.
"In Australia we're very fortunate in regards to how we produce food and the ethics around that, but when you go to another country that doesn't have the same access to fresh food, it's an eye opener that changes your perspective on how we export food to other countries that aren't as fortunate."
Ms Taylor said wealth drove impact investment and a lot of the commentary on the ethics about the agricultural supply chain.
She added that the industry needed to think about it's high agricultural export number and consider an overarching food security strategy.
"Australia doesn't have an overarching food security strategy at a national level and given the impact of the east coast drought over the past couple of years, we need one," Ms Taylor said.
"We need to work out how we feed ourselves at home and how we feed the disadvantaged in WA.
"There are already some incredible initiatives, including Foodbank and I think that's part of building trust in the agricultural industry at home, making sure we all have food."
The panel agreed young people in the agricultural sector could help build community trust in the industry.
Mr Whittington encouraged the audience to be engaged on social media and have the courage to 'have the debate'.
"You've got to be prepared at the ground roots to defend your industry and defend what you believe in, it's too easy to go quiet," Mr Whittington said.
"Being out there and pushing the debate in the media year-in, year-out until an issue goes to the political decision makers is very important."
New committee members were also announced at the AGM, with Tiffany Davey announced as the new AgConnectWA president, Shannen Barrett as vice president and Lavinia Wehr as secretary.
